I’m very excited about our upcoming year. We start out having restored our membership to the level it was at two years ago, mostly through lapsed members having renewed, but also through gaining many new members (welcome!).

I am quite aware that most members of Minnesota Atheists regularly vote for Democratic Party candidates. It is obvious from chatting at our social events that most of you saw the November elections as a downer. Republicans took control of the House, erased the Democrats’ super-majority in the Senate and cast serious doubts on the 2012 reelection of President Obama.

Steve Landesberg , best known for his role as police detective Arthur Dietrich on the TV sitcom Barney Miller, has died of cancer. Steve played what might have been the first openly atheist character on TV (who wasn't some kind of villain).

Tom Flynn, the Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism, provided the educational presentation at our November 21st public meeting at the Ridgedale Library. He spoke on the problems that the Christmas celebration presents to atheists, a topic with which he has been identified since the 1993 publication of his book The Trouble with Christmas.